


please come home for christmas (bells will be ringing).

by pyroallerdyce



Series: i refuse to admit there was a beach divorce (aka all my charles/erik fics) [85]
Category: X-Men (Movieverse)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Modern: No Powers, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Arguing, Christmas, Conversations, December writing challenge, Established Relationship, Gay Character, Gay Charles Xavier, Gay Erik Lehnsherr, Gay Male Character, Inspired by Music, M/M, Prompt Fic, Prompt Fill, Relationship(s), Resolution, Short One Shot, Tumblr Prompt, Wordcount: 1.000-3.000
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-17
Updated: 2020-12-17
Packaged: 2021-03-11 05:27:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,760
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28129884
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pyroallerdyce/pseuds/pyroallerdyce
Summary: “I can’t believe you’re not gonna be home for Christmas.”Erik sighed heavily.  He’d been through this with Charles three times now.  “Charles, I can’t help the fact that I have been placed in charge of a massive project.  This construction is going to go so much smoother if I am on site from the moment it starts until the moment it ends.  They scheduled it to start two days before Christmas and I can’t help that.”or:  Erik's not going to be home for Christmas and Charles is upset.  But once Erik gets to his destination, he realizes there's only one place he needs to be.
Relationships: Erik Lehnsherr/Charles Xavier
Series: i refuse to admit there was a beach divorce (aka all my charles/erik fics) [85]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1202509
Kudos: 22
Collections: December Writing Challenge - 2020





	please come home for christmas (bells will be ringing).

**Author's Note:**

> December writing challenge day 17. I think this is going to be the last X-Men one, guys. Writing these have been like pulling my teeth.
> 
> And as always, if you like what you read and you want to see more, please let me know via a comment or kudos or bookmark so that I know I'm not writing into a void. Enjoy.
> 
> December 17 Prompt - “I can’t believe you’re not gonna be home for Christmas.” (imaginesandsmut on Tumblr)  
> Title Song: Please Come Home for Christmas (Bells Will Be Ringing) by Eagles

“I can’t believe you’re not gonna be home for Christmas.”

Erik sighed heavily. He’d been through this with Charles three times now. “Charles, I can’t help the fact that I have been placed in charge of a massive project. This construction is going to go so much smoother if I am on site from the moment it starts until the moment it ends. They scheduled it to start two days before Christmas and I can’t help that.”

“Yes, you’re going to be on site for this project for a month and a half, Erik,” Charles countered back. “That means I’m not going to see you for a month and a half, and I would really like to spend Christmas with you. If you aren’t here, then I’m going to be completely alone because Raven is going to Chicago to spend the holiday with Azazel, and I have no one else to spend it with.”

“Charles, Christmas means nothing to me,” Erik pointed out. “Being Jewish means that you don’t celebrate Christmas. I don’t care about it.”

“I’m aware of the fact that you’re Jewish, Erik. I’ve been here for every night of Hanukkah so far so that I could participate in your traditions. I thought that you would be willing to participate in mine, but apparently not,” Charles said angrily, stalking over to the chair where his coat was.

Erik watched him put his coat on and shook his head. “This is not such a big deal that you’re going to leave.”

“Yes, it motherfucking is,” Charles said, and he left the apartment. 

On the elevator ride down to the ground floor, Charles couldn’t help but wonder what on earth he was doing with an asshole like Erik Lehnsherr. Everyone had warned him that getting involved with Erik was a bad idea because of his reputation, and Charles decided that they were right. Well, no more. 

He was done with Erik Lehnsherr.

**********

Erik called Charles every evening after he got home from work, but Charles didn’t answer the phone. He left messages and never got a response. Text messages went unanswered as well and Erik couldn’t believe that Charles could possibly be that angry over the fact that he was unable to spend Christmas with him. He hadn’t been lying when he said that Christmas meant absolutely nothing to him, so the fact that he would be spending the holiday in a rented house in Topeka, Kansas instead of New York City didn’t bother him.

He had thought that he’d be able to talk to Charles on the phone for hours on Christmas Day though. But clearly, that wasn’t going to happen. 

He’d talked to Hank right before he left for the project site, and Hank told him that he was being an idiot. Charles had celebrated Hanukkah with Erik, so why couldn’t he celebrate Christmas with Charles? Erik might not buy into the symbolism of the day, but Charles wasn’t religious at all so the symbolism of Jesus’s birth meant very little to him. Erik wouldn’t have to go to church in the morning and listen to a sermon that he wouldn’t believe in. 

Erik just couldn’t bring himself to care one bit about Christmas though. And yeah, it might have been Charles’s favorite holiday, but he didn’t want to ruin it for him by being completely unenthusiastic. At some point, Charles was going to calm down and not be so angry, and he was going to have to talk to Erik, and Erik would use that opportunity to apologize profusely even though he wasn’t entirely sure what all he’d done. So he didn’t want to celebrate Christmas. So what?

Erik tried to push thoughts of Charles out of his head, ordered some Chinese food, and found something on television to watch. But he kept thinking about Charles, and the fact that Charles was going to be alone on Christmas Day, and the fact that he was going to be alone in Kansas for the next six weeks. He needed to resolve this argument, and if Charles wouldn’t answer the phone or text messages, then he had no idea how to do so.

Except he could do it in person. Charles couldn’t avoid that.

And if he did it in person on Christmas Day, Charles wouldn’t be alone on his favorite holiday.

Erik had his phone in his hand before he could stop himself, looked up flights from Topeka to New York City, and found that there was one with a seat available that was taking off at midnight, which made him pause. It was late at night for sure, but it was only roughly a three hour flight, which would allow him to spend part of the night at his apartment, take a shower in the morning and dress in something nice instead of what he wore on the flight, and head over to Charles’s. 

The house would be fine while he was gone, and he’d find a flight back to Topeka for the day after Christmas so he could be on the job site on the twenty-seventh when construction started back up. He thought about it for at least half an hour until his food arrived, and as he ate, he decided that Hank had been right. He was being an idiot. So he pulled up the website again, found the flight that left at midnight, and booked a seat on it. Then he searched for one from New York City to Topeka on the twenty-sixth, found a seat on one that left New York at ten p.m., and booked that too. It would be a short trip home, but Charles would hopefully understand that Erik had to be on the job site on the twenty-seventh.

Charles would hopefully forgive him when he showed up at his apartment on Christmas Day.

Erik finished his food, went and got his suitcase ready, and then headed to the airport so he was there nice and early because he suspected it would be very busy.

**********

Charles had specific things that he did on Christmas Day. It started with a cinnamon coffee cake with some eggnog in the morning, followed by opening up stockings before the presents. Then he’d put out finger food snacks instead of eating lunch, and go through and put away his new things. A movie was next, usually either _Home Alone_ or _White Christmas_ depending on what was watched on Christmas Eve and what mood Raven was in because she got to pick the afternoon movie, and then dinner would be a roast of some sort because it had just been Thanksgiving and Charles refused to eat a turkey dinner twice in the span of a month. After dinner was another movie, usually _It’s a Wonderful Life_ or _Elf_ , depending on what mood he was in because he got to pick the evening movie. It was the same thing every year, and it had been that way since he was a child.

Except, this year, there was no one to do any of it with. But Charles wasn’t deterred. He started his morning with cinnamon coffee cake and eggnog, and then he went into the main room of his apartment, turned the lights on the tree and the fake fireplace mantle on, and plucked his stocking off of it. Raven had filled it with things when she brought Charles’s presents over, and he sat down on the sofa and pulled the first wrapped thing out.

And then someone buzzed his apartment.

Sighing heavily and wondering who on earth it could be, Charles set the stocking to the side and stood up, walking over to the door and pressing the right button. “Hello?”

“Charles,” came a voice, and he stood there in shock. “May I come up, please?”

“Erik?” Charles got out after a few moments. 

That couldn’t possibly be Erik’s voice. He was in Kansas.

“Yes,” Erik said. “It’s me. Will you please let me in?”

Charles took a deep breath, pressed the right button to unlock the building’s door, and then looked down at his pajamas and decided that he should probably get dressed. 

He had just finished pulling a fresh shirt on when there was a knock at the door, and he went and opened it to find Erik standing there. “Hi.”

“Hello,” Erik said, smiling. “May I come in?”

Charles nodded and moved out of the way, letting Erik walked into the apartment before shutting the door and locking it. When he turned back around, it registered that Erik was carrying a couple of wrapped presents, and he broke out into a smile. “You got me presents?”

Erik nodded. “I was going to give them to you before I left for Kansas but you wouldn’t return my calls or messages.”

Charles sighed. “That’s because you weren’t taking me seriously.”

“That’s because I didn’t understand because I don’t celebrate this holiday,” Erik explained. “But I have realized that is not a reason to not spend the holiday with the man that I love, who does celebrate the holiday. And you were right, you spent part of Hanukkah with me. I should have been willing to spend Christmas with you. I realized last night that I was being an idiot, booked a flight back here, and here I am.”

Charles walked over to him and took the presents from his hands, setting them on the sofa and pulling Erik to him. “I’m very happy that you’re here. I was just thinking about how I was going to be spending the day alone and that was very depressing. Please tell me that you can stay all day. Please.”

“My flight back to Topeka doesn’t leave until ten o’clock tomorrow night. So you’ve got me till I need to head to the airport.”

Charles hugged Erik tightly. “That’s wonderful.”

“Hank told me you have Christmas traditions,” Erik said. “So I want to experience these traditions.”

Charles grinned. “Have you eaten breakfast?”

“There’s no food in my apartment so no.”

“Then we start with some coffee cake and eggnog. I’ve already had some, but you can eat while I open up the gifts in my stocking.”

“Sounds great.”

“Erik?”

“What?”

“I love you.”

Erik smiled. “I love you too.”

As the day progressed, Erik began to realize why Charles loved Christmas so much. It was a holiday that he would never celebrate, but if they built the kind of relationship that he wanted to with Charles, he would happily observe Charles’s excitement for the rest of his life.


End file.
